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A Rose For Emily Chivalry Analysis

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In today’s society and through much of society in the past few centuries, showing respect towards others is essential to human interactions. Many consider chivalry to be one of the best ways to show respect. However, since chivalry has become expected of people, the actions that come with being chivalrous, often lack sincerity as they are forced. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” criticizes the other side of chivalry by showing that judgement and isolation often come with empty gestures, even if they are thought to be sincere. Faulkner criticizes chivalry by setting the town in the South, where it is commonly associated with having the most chivalrous people. During this time period, especially in the Southern community, people knew that …show more content…
In the story, it is explained that “Our whole town went to her funeral…women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house” (Faulkner 54). No one in the town had much interaction with Miss Emily, nor did anyone seem to care that she was usually alone. The entire town went to her funeral to show that they respected her. However, this is an empty gesture since none of the townspeople really seemed to care that much about her. These actions are Faulkner’s way of criticizing the idea of chivalry by showing the flaws in “Southern Chivalry” since it is evident that the townspeople are being forced to act in such a …show more content…
The people in the town act respectfully towards Miss Emily but tend to avoid real confrontation with her. This isolates Miss Emily from the town altogether. After Miss Emily’s father had died and Homer left her, the house began to have an awful smell to it. Instead of confronting Miss Emily directly, the townspeople snuck around the house and slyly sprinkled lime on the property. While the house no longer emitted a terrible smell, the townspeople had essentially broke into Miss Emily’s property simply because they had not wanted to disrespect her. This shows how isolated she is from the rest of the town even though the people in the town believe they are doing the right thing. Also, it is demonstrating the downside to chivalry because although the townspeople are trying not to disrespect Miss Emily, they are instead separating her from everyone else, which is possibly worse than simply confronting

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